Author: openjargon

• Cassindy Chao, 55, is a former finance executive turned matchmaker.
• After six years at Goldman Sachs, Chao decided to quit her job to take care of her ill mother.
• She said the decision allowed her to spend time with family, marry, and have children.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Cassindy Chao, a 55–year-old matchmaker from Oakland, California, about quitting her dream job as a finance executive. It's been edited for length and clarity.

I'm a 55-year-old matchmaker who used to live the "Crazy Rich Asians" lifestyle, working in finance.

I went into that line of work because I knew it was lucrative and felt like a responsible choice. After graduating from Wellesley College, majoring in Chinese studies and economics, I worked at a couple of finance jobs before being poached by Goldman Sachs in Hong Kong.

At Goldman Sachs, I made over $376,000 annually. I was on top of the world, traveling and buying myself jewelry and designer clothes. It was a very luxurious lifestyle. My co-workers and I would fly to Thailand, Japan, or Vietnam on weekends. I was in the center of it all.

Years after starting the new job in 1993, my mom got sick with ovarian cancer, and it was devastating. I quit Goldman Sachs in 1999 and moved back home to the Bay Area, where I became lonely and incredibly sad.

It was tough, at first, but now I can say leaving my dream job was all worth it.

I went from international jet setter to a stay-at-home caregiver

When my mom got sick, I tried to fly back and forth from Hong Kong to the Bay Area to care for her, but it was unmanageable. After about three months of traveling back and forth, I quit Goldman Sachs. It was awful. I went from an international jet setter with a beautiful showpiece duplex apartment and maid to living in an old four-bedroom home.

Instead of jewelry and expensive dinners, my days were filled with brewing tea and soup for my mom and driving her to doctor's appointments.

Over time, I watched people who worked below me at the company do incredibly well. I visited friends with many Hermès bags in their closets. They'd call me and chat about their far-flung excursions and show off their homes filled with priceless art. I initially felt sorry for myself, watching them lead my formerly fabulous life.

It was hard to come to terms with my new reality

I wanted to balance both careers, but being my mom's caregiver was practically a full-time effort — chemo, blood tests, tumor assays, finding alternative medicines, getting second opinions, driving, managing her records, bill payments, and insurance negotiations. I didn't want to hire a caretaker for my mom.

All of a sudden I had to budget and save money. But over time, I felt bad for feeling sorry for myself and realized the simple things are what truly matter.

I loved my family and the priceless time I got to spend with my mother. At Goldman, it was frenetic — deals, reports, deadlines, meetings, conferences, presentations. Back in the States, there was still plenty to do, but life slowed down significantly, and I could actually relax.

My mom said I'd never get married and have a family if I stayed at Goldman Sachs

Before quitting, I worked crazy hours, traveled constantly, and chased after Ivy League banker men out of my league. I ignored my mom's advice, as I enjoyed my life.

I was dating several other finance guys when I met my now-husband Fred, an engineer, at a party in Hong Kong. He seemed friendly and happy but wore a Jackie Chan T-shirt, shorts, and Teva sandals. My first thought was, "Oh, yuck."

We instantly clicked, but I saw him more as a friend.

However, during the first year of caring for my mom, Fred showed up where the other men didn't. He was solid and always there, making me realize he was a real keeper. When I decided to move back to the US permanently, Fred packed up all my stuff and brought it back for me. We started dating seriously, and he grew to have a tremendous bond with my mom. That same year he proposed, we married, and he moved to California to be with me.

He's a goofy engineer, not a slick, rich finance guy, different from the other men I dated. If I stayed in Hong Kong, I would probably have chased after unavailable men for years. Instead, we've been happily married for over 20 years.

Was it worth it to leave Goldman Sachs?

Now, I can say yes. My mom lived for 10 years as an end-stage ovarian/liver cancer survivor before passing. I mourned her and my former high-flying life when she died, but she taught me how to thrive in any situation.

My mom's ability to make the best of any situation inspired me. She made friends with her medical team, buying gifts and knitting hats. During chemo, she would say, "I'm going to be out of it for 14 days, but afterward, let's schedule seven days of fun." We'd spend days exploring the city, eating delicious treats, and socializing with friends.

I'm not rich, but I'm wealthy in happiness. I have a great marriage and three terrific kids who are now young adults. Although not everyone wants marriage and kids, I'd always assumed I'd have it.

Now that I'm older, I've found a new career I love as a matchmaker. It's not work; I love meeting so many interesting people all the time and nudging them to find someone super special.

I chose family over money, and I'm richer because of it.

If you quit a six-figure dream job and want to share your story, email Manseen Logan at mlogan@businessinsider.com.

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• Ayan Said moved to the US as a child and became a successful nurse and entrepreneur.
• After experiencing a divorce and job loss in 2022, she faced a period of intense personal struggle.
• She found support and connection on LinkedIn, and she's rebuilding her life with optimism.

My parents fled the war in Somalia in 1992 when I was 5 to start a new life in the US.

I grew up in poverty, but despite the challenges, I witnessed my parents' unwavering determination and resilience. Their example instilled in me a profound belief in the power of education and hard work.

While studying psychology during undergrad, my daughter was born prematurely due to Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome. Inspired by the NICU nurses who cared for her, I decided to pursue a career in nursing.

As I witnessed the challenges exacerbated by the effects of the pandemic, I decided to leave my job and pursue full-time entrepreneurship. A nursing colleague and I cofounded a healthcare startup in 2019. It was incredibly rewarding.

Then in 2022, I was tested in ways I never imagined. I lost my job, my home, and almost everything I owned along with deep formative relationships, my identity, and my entire sense of self.

At the height of my success, I lost it all

My marriage with my partner of 20 years, my high school sweetheart, was strained by various challenges that tested our resilience.

After going through marriage counseling, I gained strength and clarity and decided to file for divorce.

When we began the divorce process, I moved my daughter and myself to my mom's for support.

While my marriage was ending, I lost my job

During this challenging period, my startup was growing rapidly, and the weight of imposter syndrome, coupled with the stress of my personal life, took its toll on my work. After my divorce was finalized in September 2022, I was fired from the startup.

These major losses shook me to my core. I was filled with inadequacy, regret, and deep shame and felt like a complete failure.

There were days when even getting out of bed seemed impossible. I was exhausted and frequently woke up in the middle of the night drenched in sweat from nightmares.

This spiral made me feel helpless and unable to see a way forward for myself and my daughter. I lost all motivation to do anything — to eat, go outside, or face anyone. I withdrew from the world. I felt isolated and consumed by my thoughts, and all I could do was cry.

My darkest moment was when I was convinced my absence would benefit my loved ones. Terrified, I knew I had to change everything to break that cycle.

Taking small steps to heal changed my trajectory

At this turning point, I knew I couldn't do it alone anymore.

I leaned heavily on my loved ones for emotional support and started therapy. I made small, deliberate changes to regain my sense of self. I took long walks. I went to the gym. I baked. I journaled and listened to affirmations I wrote and recorded, on repeat, to quiet the loud, terrifying thoughts and to hear a different perspective.

It wasn't a perfect, linear journey. I knew I needed time and space to allow myself to grieve, and it was a slow and agonizing process.

Eventually, I let go of the idea that I had to feel completely whole in an unreasonable timeframe. That was when things truly aligned and the subtle, incremental changes stacked.

I lost everything, but I gained even more in the end

I don't know if I'm completely healed but I'm not in that dark place anymore. I'm still living at home with my mom and slowly rebuilding a life for my daughter and me.

I've applied to a few part-time nursing positions at hospitals near me so I can still focus on my daughter. I've also started brainstorming an idea for a video podcast discussing nursing, entrepreneurship, burnout, mental health, therapy, and self-care.

I'm enjoying the little things again, like playing with makeup with my daughter. I've perfected my Snickerdoodle recipe and reconnected with my faith. I'm navigating single parenthood better. I finally feel like myself again, but I'm deeply, fundamentally changed — in a good way.

Sharing my story helped me connect with others and build a supportive community

I first shared my story on LinkedIn. It was uncomfortable being vulnerable, but I knew I had to share it because the discomfort I felt before clicking the 'post' button paled in comparison to the potential positive impact it could have on someone.

Shortly after, responses flooded in. The most beautiful, unexpected outcome was that my story allowed me to connect with people worldwide.

If you're feeling lost and alone, please ask for help and push through because it does get better. After the darkness, the dawn comes.

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• Sara Bustillo de Castro, a VP and mom-of-two, spent two years living in Cambridge, UK.
• She said she decided to move to Madrid for better childcare and because she found the UK lonely.
• Bustillo de Castro said childcare is more affordable in Spain and people were more friendly.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Sara Bustillo de Castro, a VP based in Madrid. Business Insider has verified her employment at a global consultancy firm. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

I moved with my family to Spain, where I'm from, after living in the UK for two years. I'm much happier and healthier than I was, and I can see us here for the next 10 years.

I had my first child in Paris in 2020. My husband and I were both working full-time and far from both our families, which was difficult. I worked for a global consultancy company. We had a full-time childminder. They would take care of our daughter in their home, with several other children, from when our daughter was five months old.

In France, childcare at a childminder's home is regulated by the state and subsidized based on income. Some parents can pay as little as 300 euros, which is around $320, a month for one child. Our income was at the higher end, so we paid full price, which was 800 euros, about $860, a month.

It was flexible, and the childminder would also take care of our daughter if she fell ill.

Childcare in the UK was expensive and hard to access

When my daughter was 18 months old, in August 2021, our family moved to Cambridge for my husband's job. I was able to transfer my job at a consultancy firm to the London office and work hybrid.

Childcare was completely different in the UK from France. Even getting a spot in the nursery was difficult. There was only one nursery place available in the city. It was in the north, and we lived in the south. It was a 45-minute drive each way.

I had my second child in April 2022. Both my children were in the same nursery. Full-time nursery care a month per child cost £1,400, which is about $1,700.

Both my husband and I had demanding jobs, and we didn't have any childcare support apart from nursery. It was extremely hard.

The system made it hard to manage childcare and work

When our children were ill, they were sent home for two days under the nursery policy. Sometimes, they'd need to see a doctor before they were allowed to go back to the nursery. It can be difficult to get doctor's appointments quickly in the UK. That made things complicated for us as working parents.

One day, in November 2021, when our daughter was ill, I had to cancel my meetings for a consulting project I was project managing to take her to get a COVID-19 test. These consultancy projects are time-sensitive, and I was under pressure. For three days, I looked after our daughter in the morning, and my husband looked after her in the afternoon so I could go back to work. It was very stressful.

Something like that would happen every two or three weeks. I'd be on work calls and hear one of the children crying in the background. I felt like I wasn't working well, and I wasn't parenting well, either.

The nursery would sometimes turn parents away at the door

Sometimes, there weren't enough nursery employees to look after all the children. The nursery employees would send a message to parents in the morning saying they could only take five children that day, for example.

There'd be a line of parents waiting outside the nursery, and after the available places were filled, the parents at the end of the line would have to take their children home.

It was pretty harsh.

We decided to move to Spain

I liked the UK's entrepreneurial spirit and food, but we weren't happy.

Not only was the childcare expensive, but it was also a very individualistic place, and I felt isolated. We asked our neighbors in Cambridge if they wanted to have dinner, and though they said yes several times, it never happened. In Spain, when you say you'll go for dinner, you set the date. Something like that seemed to happen in every single relationship that we had with British people.

We moved to Madrid in August 2023. Childcare was a big factor, but we also wanted to be near my family and have more of a support network.

My firm wouldn't let me transfer from London to Madrid, so I took voluntary redundancy. My biggest fear was that job opportunities would be more limited in Madrid, but I started a new job as a VP for an aviation company in April. I'm now earning more than I was in the UK.

People here seem healthier, and healthcare is easier to access.

The quality of childcare is better and cheaper

My youngest child is still in nursery, which is a 10-minute walk from our home, and very flexible.

People are warmer and more caring toward children than they were in the UK, though maybe it's just expressed differently.

If my son is a little ill, the nursery workers don't send him home immediately. Instead, they look after him. It feels like I'm leaving him with a family member — like a delegated maternal figure. I never felt like that in the UK.

It's 540 euros, which is about $580, a month for a full-time nursery for one child.

We have home help too

My husband and I were worried about who would look after our daughter, who is at school if she fell ill. We hired someone to work at home, which wouldn't have been affordable in the UK. They manage cleaning, shopping, and childcare when needed. The help costs us 1,750 euros a month for 40 hours a week.

They make things much easier — I realize we're very privileged.

It's nice being near family, too. They don't help out that much with the childcare but it's good for the heart.

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• A bill passed last week that could lead to a TikTok ban unless ByteDance sells it to a US company.
• Black creators, who were instrumental in the platform's growth, could be significantly affected.
• Their feelings are complicated, though, due to tensions with equal pay and credit on the platform.

Black content creators were monumental in helping make TikTok into what it is today, but now they might be some of the most affected if the platform is banned in the US.

The US Senate passed a bill last week that could mean TikTok is removed from app stores in nine months unless its parent company, Bytedance, sells it to a US corporation.

Soon after, President Joe Biden signed it into law, meaning the clock is now ticking for ByteDance to give up its US TikTok assets or face a nationwide ban.

Black creators who spoke with Business Insider said they feel they will be particularly affected if the ban goes ahead despite playing such a huge part in helping TikTok become what it is today.

Their support for TikTok is complicated. They say the app has historically been inconsistent with crediting Black creators and having faced allegations of "toxicity and racism" inside the company.

But largely, TikTok is a place Black creators found where they could thrive and reach new audiences and customers for their growing businesses.

Overall, a TikTok ban would be "devastating" to Black creators, Tenyse Williams, the CEO and founder of Verified Consulting and an adjunct instructor at the University of Central Florida, Columbia University, and George Washington University, told BI.

"They have worked hard to build their followers and businesses on this platform, and losing it would mean starting over from scratch," she said. "It's not just a matter of losing a platform, but also rebuilding their digital homes and communities."

The democratization of influencing

Funmi Ford, a creator with 242,000 followers, told BI she saw many Black creators grow on TikTok when it boomed during the start of the pandemic.

"I remember that phrase, 'the democratization of influencing,' because, on Instagram, there weren't a lot of Black creators that had even hit a million followers," Ford said. "They got on TikTok, these same creators, with these same ideas and the same passion, and all of a sudden they're hitting millions of views, a million plus followers."

It wasn't that the content wasn't good, Ford said, it was that Instagram "just wasn't a place for Black creators, minority creators, to excel." On TikTok, in comparison, they "grew like crazy," she said.

Now, 19% of TikTok users in the US are Black, according to a 2023 survey by Pew Research Center, which is higher than the group's representation in the adult population (12%). In the same report, while 10% of white teens said they used TikTok almost constantly, 20% of Black teens did.

Nya Étienne, a creator and journalist, told BI she turned to TikTok when she didn't feel heard in the traditional media space.

There, she was able to express herself and find her audience, she said. Rebuilding her 26,000 followers elsewhere, she said, would be a challenge.

"With the looming TikTok ban, I've been trying to convert to Instagram, and it's going OK, but it's nothing like what I have on TikTok," Étienne said. "TikTok is such a unique space for us, and it's sad that it could be taken away."

Black-owned businesses thrive with TikTok

An Oxford Economics report published in March found that 57% of small and medium Black-owned business owners said TikTok is "critical to their business's existence," with 83% saying they had seen their sales increase after promoting their products there.

Ford said TikTok is full of mom and pop shops that have been "struggling for years" that finally found a new audience and are now thriving. There are also popular influencers, such as Keith Lee, who highlight Black-owned small businesses and restaurants.

Black creators were also instrumental in pushing momentum on TikTok from a dance app to one full of conversations, entrepreneurialism, and personal stories, Ford said.

"Black creators just did a lot to help the app be what it is," she said.

Kahlil Dumas, a TikTok creator with 29,000 followers who is the founder of Free the CEO and the host of the podcast "UNSTUCKKD," told BI that if TikTok disappears, Black creators "risk losing the communities they've built."

"They would need to cultivate communities on other platforms while trying to transfer their TikTok community," he said.

It may not be easy to regrow their followings elsewhere, Dumas added, which could lead to fewer brand deals, less ad revenue, and less income overall.

A complicated relationship

Black creators have a somewhat strained relationship with TikTok. Though the app has made efforts to promote Black-owned businesses with movements such as #BlackBusinessMonth and #SupportBlack in the past few years, Black creators have expressed frustrations with censorship and inequality on the platform.

Some Black creators suspected their Black Lives Matter content was suppressed in 2020 after George Floyd's death ignited a wave of protests.

Black TikTokers have also expressed an "undertone of anti-Blackness" in the platform's algorithm, where white creators benefited from the trends started by Black creators.

In February 2020, for example, The New York Times reported that the mega-popular "Renegade" dance on TikTok had been created by Jalaiah Harmon, a Black teenager from Atlanta, but everyone on the app seemed to attribute it to white TikTokers like Charli D'Amelio. White creators were also invited onto talk shows to demonstrate dances that Black TikTokers came up with.

A TikTok spokesperson told BI at the time that Black creators are "a critical and vibrant part" of the experience on the app. "We care deeply about the experience of Black creators on our platform and we continue to work every day to create a supportive environment for our community while also instilling a culture where honoring and crediting creators for their creative contributions is the norm," they said.

Studies have also shown Black creators make less money than their white counterparts, and it has taken longer for prominent Black creators (including Khaby Lame, the biggest creator on the platform with 162 million followers) to feature on Forbes' list of top-earning talent.

This is disheartening, Black creators told BI, because so many top trends and ideas come from their community.

Williams told BI TikTok's vibrancy and inclusivity of so many different cultures is thanks to the "exceptional ingenuity, authenticity, and trend-setting capacities of Black creators."

"They are pioneers in carving the platform's soul and are the driving force behind its success," she said. "In essence, they are the beat to TikTok's heart."

Étienne told BI that ever since the beginning of TikTok, Black creators "have done copious amounts of hidden labor," whether it's creating dances, promoting music, or seeing African-American Vernacular English (AAVE) transform into "internet slang."

"Seeing our labor either go unseen or become monetized for other creators is, of course, frustrating," she said. "The barriers of entry to being a successful influencer are so much higher as a Black creator, which is sadly a truth that we have to face online and in real life."

It's discouraging for full-time creators to see their work "underrepresented and under-recognized," Étienne added, which is why some are considering subscription-based platforms such as Substack and Patreon or moving to YouTube, where monetization through AdSense can be more lucrative than TikTok.

"That ownership is very important," Étienne said. "Especially when platforms can come and go."

Imani Bashir, who has nearly 100,000 followers, agreed that feelings about a potential TikTok ban are complicated. Black creators just don't get the same rewards from the app as their white peers, which makes it harder to want to fight for it, she said.

For example, Bashir has applied for certification multiple times and fits all the criteria but has been repeatedly denied.

"We're still, to this day, being suppressed and being stifled in our content," she said. "We want to reap the same benefits as other content creators."

Bashir estimates up to 70% of her current followers wouldn't move to Instagram or another platform if TikTok is banned, so despite its faults, she wants it to stay.

"We love this app, we want this app, but the love isn't reciprocated," Bashir said.

Those in charge should remember, "We are traditionally the ones that organize," Bashir said. "We are the ones who will fight for it."

BI has reached out to TikTok for further comment.

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• Donald Trump feels his lead defense lawyer hasn't been aggressive enough, per The New York Times.
• Trump is currently facing his first criminal trial in Manhattan.
• He was held in contempt of court on Tuesday and fined $9,000 for repeatedly violating his gag order.

Former President Donald Trump thinks the lawyer representing him in his hush-money trial isn't combative enough, The New York Times reported on Tuesday.

Trump is currently facing his first criminal trial in a Manhattan court, where he's been accused of falsifying business records to cover up a sexual affair with the porn star Stormy Daniels.

Todd Blanche, an ex-federal prosecutor turned white-collar defense lawyer, is currently representing Trump as his lead lawyer. Trump had once praised Blanche, saying that he was an intelligent and good lawyer, The Times said in a report on April 4.

But Blanche, it seems, might no longer be in Trump's good graces.

It's been just over two weeks since the trial started on April 15 and Trump has begun grousing about Blanche's performance. The former president has criticized Blanche for being insufficiently aggressive to the trial's judge, jury and witnesses, The Times reported on Tuesday, citing four people familiar with the matter.

Alina Habba, a legal spokesperson for Trump told The Times that Blanche is a "crucial part" of the team. Blanche declined comment when approached by The Times.

"Anonymous comments from people who aren't in the room are just that — anonymous comments from people who aren't in the room," Jason Miller, a senior adviser to the Trump campaign, said in a statement to BI. "I would be highly skeptical of any gossip or hearsay surrounding this case."

To be sure, Blanche hasn't had an easy time defending his client. Last week, Blanche was slammed by New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan for his "irrelevant" arguments on why Trump shouldn't be held in contempt of court for violating his gag order repeatedly.

"You're losing all credibility with the court," Merchan told Blanche on April 23.

Trump was ultimately held in contempt of court on Tuesday and fined $9,000 for violating his gag order multiple times.

The hush-money trial isn't the only criminal case Trump is on the line for.

Trump has also been charged in three other criminal cases, including a state criminal case in Georgia over his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results.

Besides Georgia, Trump faces two federal cases: one relating to his attempts to overturn the 2020 election results and another in which he's accused of hoarding classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate after leaving office.

None of the three cases have firm trial dates set yet.

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• Iran's economy is in bad shape.
• Decades of sanctions have driven up inflation, government debt, and poverty rates.
• Iran's struggles could be a warning for Russia as the war in Ukraine drags on.

Escalating tensions between Iran and Israel have driven up commodity costs, reignited worries about a flare-up in inflation, and sparked renewed fears of wider conflict in the Middle East.

One factor that might avert a regional war is the dismal state of Iran's economy.

The country has borne the brunt of Western sanctions for decades, making it tough for Tehran to finance any war effort — and that could be a warning sign for Vladimir Putin as the war in Ukraine drags on.

Sanctions packages

The US first imposed sanctions on Iran after students seized the American embassy in Tehran in 1979, and has stepped up its efforts considerably more recently.

In 2018, Donald Trump decided to pull out of a nuclear agreement between the US and Iran. The then-president said he would put "maximum economic pressure" on Iran, setting the stage for sanctions packages that have pummelled the Iranian economy.

Most countries that buy Iranian oil are banned from trading with the US. Iran is the world's seventh-largest oil producer, according to data from the US Energy Information Administration, so the restrictions have chipped away at a major engine for growth.

Iran's economy fell into a deep, two-year recession shortly after sanctions were reinstated, although economic growth has rebounded into positive territory since then. According to World Bank projections, Iran's economy is expected to have expanded by 4.2% last year.

Rising inflation and mounting debt

Despite that recent rise in GDP, other issues are plaguing Iran's economy.

Sanctions and a tumbling currency, the rial, have pushed inflation close to 50% at times in recent years, with food disproportionately affected. The cost of lentils has soared 130% since the start of this year, IranWire reported, while beans are up 30%, and red meat prices have jumped 25% over the same period, per Iran International.

Even before those increases about half the population consumed less than the recommended 2,100 calories a day last year, according to the Iranian parliament's research center, IranWire reported.

That cost-of-living crisis has also driven poverty rates higher. About 9.5 million Iranians fell into poverty in the 2010s, according to World Bank data, with over a quarter of citizens living on the equivalent of $6.85 a day or less back in 2017.

Stripped of key oil revenues, the government has resorted to borrowing, tripling its debt as a percentage of GDP ratio over the past 15 years. The higher deficit would make it much tougher to raise defense spending if tensions with Israel spiraled into a wider conflict.

Warning for Russia

Iran's struggles over the past decade could be a warning sign for Russia, sanctioned by the West since Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

Russia's economy appears to have remained resilient, but forecasters warn that the outlook may worsen as the war with Ukraine drags on.

Moscow has struggled to contain a spike in basic foodstuffs this year, leading to Soviet-style queues at supermarkets. Think-tanks have warned that the Kremlin risks becoming reliant on China, North Korea, and even Iran for weapons because it's been cut off from foreign lenders.

If Iran's example is anything to go by, even tougher times may lie ahead.

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• Google employees who were fired for protesting the company's work with Israel have gone to the NLRB.
• About 50 employees were fired or placed on leave, the NLRB complaint said.
• Google previously said that the protesters' conduct was "unacceptable" and "extremely disruptive."

Google workers who were fired for protesting against the company's cloud contract with the Israeli government filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board on Monday.

An attorney for the workers said in the complaint that Google "retaliated against approximately 50 employees" by terminating them or putting them on administrative leave. Last month, Google said that it fired 28 employees for staging in-office protests in New York City and Sunnyvale, California.

Google's actions, the workers' attorney wrote, were "in response to their protected concert activity, namely, participation (or perceived participation) in a peaceful, non-disruptive protest that was directly and explicitly connected to their terms and conditions of work."

In a statement to Business Insider, a Google spokesperson said the behavior was "completely unacceptable."

"This is a very clear case of employees disrupting and occupying work spaces, and making other employees feel threatened and unsafe," the statement said. "We carefully confirmed and reconfirmed that every single person whose employment was terminated was directly and definitively involved in disruption inside our buildings."

Representatives for the NLRB didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from BI sent outside regular business hours.

Google said in an internal memo on April 17 that the protesters had taken over office spaces and defaced company property.

"Behavior like this has no place in our workplace and we will not tolerate it," the company wrote.

The workers had voiced their dissent against Project Nimbus, Google's $1.2 billion joint contract with Amazon to provide artificial intelligence and cloud computing services to Israel.

Protesters claimed that the contract — the details of which became public in 2021 — would allow the Israeli government to surveil and displace Palestinians.

But Google told BI last month that the company's work was not directed at highly sensitive or classified military projects relevant to weapons or intelligence services.

"We have been very clear that the Nimbus contract is for workloads running on our commercial cloud by Israeli government ministries, who agree to comply with our Terms of Service and Acceptable Use Policy," a spokesperson for Google told BI.

The ongoing dispute between Google and some of its employees highlights companies' tricky balance between their business interests and their workers' desire for self-expression.

In December, The Washington Post reported that around 1,700 Amazon employees had signed a petition against Project Nimbus.

Signatories argued that Amazon's cloud technology was going to be used by the Israelis to "repress Palestinian activists and impose a brutal siege on Gaza."

When asked about the petition, Amazon spokesperson Rob Munoz told The Post that the tech giant "is focused on making the benefits of our world-leading cloud technology available to all our customers, wherever they are located."

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• Elon Musk and David Sacks hosted an elite dinner for billionaires that got political, Puck reported.
• Musk has been flexing his political influence but has yet to endorse a presidential candidate.
• In recent years, Musk has lambasted policies by Democratic politicians and endorsed Republicans.

Elon Musk, at an exclusive April dinner, commiserated with a group of billionaires about their distrust in Democratic politicians like Joe Biden, according to a new report by Puck.

The outlet reported that Musk and venture capitalist David Sacks hosted the private event at Sacks' $23 million estate in the Hollywood Hills. In attendance were Republican donor Peter Thiel, former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick, and investment banker Steven Mnuchin, who previously served as secretary of the treasury under Donald Trump.

According to Puck, the attendees were part of a "burgeoning anti-Biden brain trust, united by a shared sense of grievance," with the evening's conversation centered around fundraising to defeat Democratic politicians and Musk's concerns about America's migrant crisis.

While Musk has increasingly criticized Biden's policies publicly — especially regarding illegal immigration, which Musk said helped Biden win the presidency, per the Houston Chronicle — the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX hasn't officially endorsed any political candidate for the coming election.

A representative for financier Michael Milken confirmed to Business Insider that he attended a dinner hosted by Musk and Sacks earlier this month but noted his presence was not a political gesture. Any discussion of politics at the dinner, Milken's representative said, did not revolve around the endorsement of any particular party or candidate.

Milken, in 1990, pleaded guilty to six racketeering and securities fraud charges related to an insider trading scheme. He was released from prison after two years and was pardoned by then-President Donald Trump 30 years later, in 2020.

Representatives for Musk, Sacks, and other dinner attendees identified by Puck did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.

While the dinner wasn't explicitly pro-Trump, Musk has, in recent weeks, told associates he plans to wade deeper into his growing role as a political influencer and is weighing whether to endorse Trump in this year's election or just make a public statement against Biden, Puck reported.

Though he is hardly a prolific donor as far as billionaires go, Musk's history of political contributions leans Republican. OpenSecrets noted that Musk donated $688,350 to federal candidates and party committees between 2004 and 2020, with 50.1% going to Republican causes. The top recipient of Musk's donations was the National Republican Congressional Committee, which received $246,800 from him since 2004, the campaign finance watchdog reported.

"In the past I voted Democrat, because they were (mostly) the kindness party," Musk wrote in a tweet in May 2022. He then bashed the Democratic Party, adding: "But they have become the party of division & hate, so I can no longer support them and will vote Republican."

Since then, his rhetoric online has increasingly mirrored extreme right-wing talking points, accusing The New York Times of going "full woke," and saying everyone should "move on" from focusing on racism.

He has also urged "independent-minded voters" to vote Republican to curb a Democratic majority.

In March, Musk met with Trump in Palm Beach, Florida, and said he was "leaning away" from Biden in an interview with former CNN anchor Don Lemon.

"While I'll voice my opinion, I think I don't want to put a thumb on the scale monetarily that is significant," Musk told Lemon about his political contributions. "I may, in the final stretch, endorse a candidate, but I don't know yet."

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• US consumers are tightening their purchases, Amazon and Starbucks executives said Tuesday.
• Amazon CFO Brian Olsavsky said their customers were trading down and looking for deals.
• Starbucks CEO Laxman Narasimhan said the coffee chain's customers were growing more cautious.

US consumers are becoming more prudent with their spending, executives at Amazon and Starbucks said on Tuesday.

"Customers in the US are being very thoughtful about their spend. They look for deals, they trade down and look for lower ASP (average sale price) products," Amazon's chief financial officer, Brian Olsavsky, told journalists ahead of the company's earnings call.

Customers are buying "a lot more consumables and everyday essentials," which tend to be cheaper, Olsavsky said.

Starbucks CEO Laxman Narasimhan made a similar observation during his company's earnings call.

"We continue to feel the impact of a more cautious consumer, particularly with our more occasional customer and a deteriorating economic outlook has weighed on customer traffic and impact sales broadly across the industry," Narasimhan said.

The CEO said that Starbucks' performance this quarter "did not meet our expectations." Sales declined 3% in the US year-on-year.

Olsavsky and Narasimhan's remarks underscore the challenges facing US consumers — and the companies that sell to them — as shoppers attempt to stretch their dollars amid persistent inflation.

"From being a point of strength during 2023, it appears that lower- and middle-income households' spending growth has been softening," Bank of America economists wrote in a report published on March 11.

In July, McDonald's CFO Ian Borden told investors that customers were trying to save money by "trading down" to its value menu items and "buying a little less."

"A challenging macro environment including rising interest rates and elevated costs continues to create volatile consumer confidence levels and put pressure on consumer spending," Borden said then.

Representatives for Amazon and Starbucks didn't immediately respond to requests for comment from BI sent outside regular business hours.

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• New York Police Department officers in riot gear entered Columbia University's Hamilton Hall.
• Dozens of protesters were taken by police into busses in zip ties, The New York Times reported.
• This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

New York Police Department officers in riot gear entered Columbia University's Hamilton Hall, which had been occupied by protesters for roughly 20 hours, according to multiple news reports.

According to The New York Times, the NYPD entered the building using a makeshift bridge that allowed them to climb into the second-story window.

Dozens of protesters were taken by police into busses in zip ties, The Times reported.

Videos from student groups on the scene show protesters being pushed off campus by police.

Student groups had been on campus for days, setting up tents and camping out at the Ivy League University to protest Israel's war on Gaza. Demands for the protest included that the university cut financial ties to Israel.

Columbia University, the NYPD, and Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In a statement to the Times, Columbia said in part: "We regret that protesters have chosen to escalate the situation through their actions," adding, "We made the decision, early in the morning, that this was a law enforcement matter, and that the NYPD were best positioned to determine and execute an appropriate response."

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

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